


who's she? never heard of her

by TheOtherBookwormFanperson



Category: Thomas Sanders
Genre: ADHD Patton Sanders, Alternate Universe - High School, Angst, Dancing, Emotional Manipulation, Fluff, Gen, Human AU, Independent One Shots, Jealousy, Kid Fic, Logince - Freeform, M/M, Manipulation, One Shot Collection, Platonic Moxiety, Prinxiety - Freeform, Sanders Sides - Freeform, Sleepovers, Work In Progress, analogical - Freeform, idk?, im excited for the new character so im just running with what ideas i get, it's deceit what do u expect, thomas sanders - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-04
Updated: 2018-02-11
Packaged: 2019-03-13 12:34:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13570695
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheOtherBookwormFanperson/pseuds/TheOtherBookwormFanperson
Summary: sanders sides one-shots.





	1. it's me! aren't we friends?

**Author's Note:**

> summary: they're like. 11 or smth idk it's sleepover time and names are weird.

"Sleepoveeeer!!!" Patton yelled, punching the air.  
"Yay, this is great," Cee said aside to Anxiety. Anxiety smiled, liking how Cee always talked to him specially.  
"Right? I didn't think they'd actually want me here!!"  
"Well, of course they would!" his friend reassured him.  
Their conversation didn't quite distract him from how Roman's face soured a little when he glanced over to the two of them whispering to each other. He voiced his thoughts to Cee, who grinned and patted his shoulder.  
"It's probably nothing, friendo! He doesn't think you're weird or anything, prob'ly. Be right back, I'm gonna get some food," Cee told him. He watched his friend stand up and slink out of the room. He was a little curious why Cee went into the opposite door to the kitchen, and started getting a little worried for him. Did he hit his head and forget where the rooms were? Was he sick? Was his friend gonna die?  
His thoughts were interrupted by an argument from the other three in the living room over what movie to watch. He stopped staring at the empty doorway to turn his attention back.  
"Sleeping Beauty!!" Princey insisted.  
"Nooo," Logan repeated, slowly and loudly, "we should watch the rainforest rap! I haven't learned all the words yet!"  
"That's not even a movie, though!! Sleeping Beauty is such a great story!!" Roman argued. "And the prince is so nice-looking!!"  
"But you already know how it goes!" Logan said. "Sleeping Beauty gets cursed, and she lives with the witches, and the prince finds her, and the curse happens, and the prince k-"  
"Ah-ba-ba-bababa!!" Princey shushed him. "Spoilers!!" He covered his ears.  
"You have already seen it though," Morality reminded him, tapping on his hands over his ears. "And Logic, you can watch it again later! We gotta agree on a movie!"  
"Well, what are we gonna do? What do you wanna watch?" Logan asked him huffily, crossing his arms stonily.  
"Mmmmm.... I dunno!!" Patton laughed. "What if we asked someone else?"  
"Well, who?" Princey demanded. Anxiety suddenly realized that they might ask him and scrambled to think of a movie, any movie. "You already asked me and Lo, and he didn't agree that Sleeping Beauty is the best movie!!"  
Morality tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Well...." He looked around the room, eyes catching first on Anxiety, making him shrink back, and then as he opened his mouth to say something, his attention flicked over to the doorway to the kitchen and Anxiety noticed a weird look on his face, that was kinda like he was scared and kinda like- well, like Cee.  
Anxiety looked at the doorway too and saw- Patton? Again? How did he get there so fast? Before he could finish figuring that out, Cee came back and slung his arm over Anxiety's shoulder casually.  
"Hey again, buddy!"  
Anxiety brightened again immediately and turned around to see him better. Then he noticed something. "Hey... Weren't you gonna get snacks and stuff?"  
"Ohh, right! Yeah, I forgot..." Cee admitted, retracting his arm around Anxiety to awkwardly scratch his cheek. "Sorry, I got distracted."  
"It's okay," was what Anxiety was _going_ to say before something scary touched his head and he yelped, trying blindly to kick whatever _horrible man-eating monster_ was attacking him.  
"Hey! That was kinda really _scary_ , don't you think?" Cee's familiar voice said above him. He bravely opened his eyes to see that it was Patton who had tapped him. That wasn't so bad- at least, better than the ferocious terror of the night he was expecting to find.  
"O-oh, hey, uh, Patton," Anxiety stuttered out.  
"Hi!" Morality beamed at them. "We were just tryin' to decide what movie to watch and I thought we should ask you guys, cuz you'll be watching too, right?" He waited expectantly.  
Anxiety suddenly forgot the list of movies he'd been compiling. "Uhhhhhhhh....." He glanced desperately at Cee for help.  
"I think watching The Ring is a _great_ idea!" Cee chirped with a grin.  
Anxiety didn't know how to tell him that he heard The Ring was really scary and he didn't wanna watch it. Luckily, it turned out he and Patton thought similarly.  
"Weellll.. I dunno. I mean, we're supposed to sleep eventually during a sleepover, right?" Patton laughed. "How are we gonna do that after watching something like that?"  
"No, that's not what I meant at all," Cee clarified, still smiling. "We should watch something that's not a musical!"  
"Did I hear someone say musical?" Roman called from across the room. "That's a great idea! Guys, let's watch Mulan!!"  
"Ugh, fine," Logan acquiesced. Anxiety supposed it wasn't such a bad idea.

* * *

Patton passed out about midway through the movie, and Logan was almost half-asleep. Roman was still singing along, but getting a little quieter. Cee kept leaving, cuz of bathroom breaks, but kept being gone for longer and longer. Anxiety was trying to worry about whether Cee was okay and if he was sick or something, but at the same time, whether Mulan was okay or getting hurt because he thought because when he hurt his leg, the bandage kept getting tighter, so if she was using them to look like a boy, what if it hurt her? There was a lotta important stuff in the chest, right, and he heard about ribs breaking all the time, and-

He started when Cee flopped back down on the couch next to him. "What'd I miss, 'Zi?"

"Uh, he found out his village got destroyed, and the Huns came, and she tried to fire a cannon at the snow to make it fall on them but it fell everywhere and it was really scary and she almost died-"

"But she's okay, right?"

"Y-yeah. She's okay."

Cee looked at him thoughfully. "Why've we got no other names?"

"Huh?"

"I mean," he pointed at Logan, nodding off, "he's Logan and Logic, and," he nodded at Patton, sleep-cuddling Roman's head, "he's Patton and Mo- _ra_ -li-ty, and," he gestured to Roman, accepting his song-less fate reluctantly, "that's Roman and Creativity  _and_ Princey, cuz he's  _fancy_. Why'm I just Deceit and you're just Anxiety?"

"Huh?" Anxiety hadn't thought about that. "I mean... I dunno. They know how to make friends better. It's probably a friend thing, when you have more friends you get more names."

"That's a really smart rule," Cee said, in the way he told Anxiety meant he meant the opposite of what his words were. "We should stick with that and not get other names until we make more friends."

Anxiety didn't wanna annoy his only friend, but he had to make sure. "So... I know we talked about this, but... that means, uh, it's a stupid rule and we should get more names before that happens?"

"No," Cee said, nodding his head and mouthing  _yes_.

"Oh, okay. Uh... what d'you want your name to be?"

"I don't like what you call me. Cee is a really dumb name, I hate it cuz I hate you." Anxiety forgot how his friend talked for a second and must've looked really upset, because Cee immediately opened his arms for a reassuring hug, which Anxiety gratefully accepted.

"Okay."

"So, what do you not want your name to be?" Anxiety heard his friend say over his head.

"I don't know... It's kinda a big decision."

"Well, what sounds do you really,  _really_ not like?"

"Huh? .....  _V_ is a good sound, I guess."

"Vvvv.... Vvvv..."

Anxiety laughed, pulling away from the hug and the ticklish reverbration coming from his friend.

"What was that word Logan never said recently, again?" Cee asked aloud. "It wasn't along the lines of, uhhh.... Fig- yeah, Fig-lant, Vig-lant, it wasn't like that..."

"Didn't it have a  _j_ sound instead of a  _g_ sound?" Anxiety prompted him.

"Oh! That wasn't helpful, uh, V... Vigi... hm." Cee thought for a few minutes, and Anxiety awkwardly tried to stay as still as possible for fear of bothering him while he was thinking. "Vir- Virg? Verge, Virge, Virge-al? Virg...el?"

"Huh?" Anxiety thought about that and tried out the sound. "Vir..gil?"

Cee gasped, almost exaggeratedly. "That's horrible! It's far too nice a name for someone like you."

Anxiety translated that in his head and smiled a little. "Well.. I think it kinda fits, a bit."

Cee grinned at him in the dark, illuminated by the movie screen, and stuck out his hand. "Nice to meet you, I'm Cee. What's your name?"

"I'm, uh, Virgil." The two friends shook hands. Anxie-  _Virgil_ , couldn't stop smiling as they settled in to finish watching the movie and eventually fell asleep, waking up on the empty couch in the emptied room.

 


	2. what you don't know can't hurt you

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> psst these aren't strictly related so even after this i might write about happy stuff... or i might not :P  
> summary: the epitome of a snake friend.

Virgil couldn't find his eyeshadow pallet, no matter where he looked. The last place he'd seen it was last week, with Cee, and he hadn't seen it since. He was getting worried, they'd made a habit of doing their makeup together every week and he was afraid without anything to do that night, Cee would stop being his friend and drop him for someone better.

He was too nervous to ask the Sides if they'd seen it, so he took a while to steel up the courage to convince himself that looking for it in their rooms was for a good cause.

Thrumming with fear, he carefully but quickly peeked under every book in Logan's room, replaced them all immediately. Ears on high alert to make sure no one was coming, he stole into Roman's room and almost got lost in the ever-changing fantasy world-- but no luck. Finally, he held his breath as he searched through the bright, misty room belonging to Patton... and still, nothing. No sign.

He finally clenched his fist in his hoodie's pocket to reassure himself, as he reached out with his other hand to the mirror image of Logic's door, and-! He heard footsteps and voices approaching and threw himself around the corner, shrinking into the shadows.

"Have you seen the way Anxiety keeps slinking around, Pat? What a Weird Witch of the West."

Roman. He'd made a habit of calling him some new, pop-culture-related insult every two seconds. Virgil pulled his hoodie closer around him to try and feel safer.

"Now, Roman, don't be mean! Just because he's... well, dark and gloomy, and Anxiety... Well, there's no need for that."

God. Even Patton, the happiest of them all, who tried to talk to Anxiety at least once a week, couldn't come up with a solid reason to stop Roman's bitter words. He bit down on a sigh and popped out, going to the kitchen to try and comfort-eat in a futile attempt to feel better. But someone else had already beaten him to the kitchen... Was that Patton?!? But hadn't he been in the hallway to the dark sides' rooms just a second ago?

He must have been gaping a little, because he stayed still long enough for Patton to turn around from his recipe book and catch sight of him.

"Oh! ... Hey, Anxiety!! Do you want to, uh, help me bake cookies?" Patton offered pityingly.

"No."

Shit. He'd said that sharper than he'd meant to. Before he could apologize, Patton had shrugged and turned back to inspecting the ingredients listed. "Oh well. Maybe another time."

"Yeah, maybe..." He bit at his nails and turned around to wander... and hopefully avoid Cee and an awkward situation where he'd have to explain that he didn't have the makeup and he'd have to cancel and then his best friend would leave him-

Shit.

There he was.

He turned around frantically to try and find a place to hide and pop out, but he'd been spotted.

"Virge!!"

"H-hey, Cee..." he mumbled, turned back around reluctantly to face him.

"What'd'ya think of my new hat?" Cee asked enthusiastically. "I bought it, it's really lame though right?"

"Huh? Oh- right! It's super cool, man..." he said, mustering up a smile.

"Hey, Virge, why've you been talking to me all day? It's not bothering me."

He blinked slowly. "Uh.... I kinda.... lostthemakeupandcan'tfinditi'msorry."

Cee cocked his head. "I understood that, talk a little faster next time huh? You're too easy to understand."

"O-oh, uh.. right." He wrung his hands in his sleeves, staring at the ceiling over Cee's shoulder. "I... You know how we do makeup nights every week?" He didn't risk glancing back at his friend's face, instead plowing on with the admission. "I can't find my palette, I'm sorry, Cee, please don't hate me."

"Why would I? I love you, you're my best friend, Virge. Besides, who else would understand either of us? I'd never leave you on your own like that," Cee said to him- but his brain was telling him something was a little bit off.

"Are you.. sure? For real?" He winced at the smallness of his cracked voice, and prayed his longtime friend wouldn't realize now how unreasonably needy and unsure he always was. But Deceit wouldn't do that to him, would he?

"Come on, Virgil, you know me," Cee told him with a smile. "Why would I lie?"

"I- well, Logan said the other day that the word deceit does mean, uh.... lies. And stuff."

Deceit laid an affronted hand on his chest, looking tragically hurt and saddened that Virge would think that of him. "Oh, Anxiety, I can't believe we've only been friends for five minutes and you already know how to tell my lying apart from when I tell the truth!"

Virge connected the dots immediately, but pleaded with himself to ignore it, it was just a misunderstanding, they were fine.. He offhandedly noticed through his thoughts that Cee was staring at him a little harder than usual.

"...... Haven't we...... been friends for years, though? .....Cee?"

"We only just started talking a few minutes ago, though. That's what I meant, buddy, no worries." Deceit patted his shoulder in a mixture of a comforting and controlling gesture.

"Are you... sure?" Anxiety didn't like where his train of thought was going.

"Nope. I meant exactly the words that came out of my mouth," Deceit told him, rolling his eyes.

_....Nope_. That meant yes...  _I meant exactly the words that came out of my mouth_. Deceit was still in the same conversation, so he was still lying... He'd been lying just now, too?  _Friends for five minutes..._ Were they not friends anymore?!?  _You already know how to tell my lying apart..._ Had he been lying the whole time?? Oh no, of course, he should've expected this... He'd seen Patton twice today, in completely different places.... Had that been his fri- had that been Cee too? Patton hadn't argued with Roman about insulting Virgil... He should've known, should've listened to the voice inside that told him something was wrong, no one would willingly spend so much time with him, but the honeyed other voice had been too appealing. He should have known better. Should've known better. Should've known better...

By the time he looked up, the hallway was empty. So was he.

Feelings were crappy anyways, he decided. From now on he'd hide them completely. The others expected the Dark sides to be, well, dark. If they wanted a villain, well, that's what they'd get.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey hey pls comment!! every single one makes my day!! let me know what you thought, your favorite part, what you want to see in the future!! i hope you're all having a great day!! <3


	3. request 1: platonic moxiety

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ran out of independent ideas so u know what that means. time to fish for ideas on tumblr. well i got one. this is a short lil thing for an anon on my tumblr who asked for platonic moxiety. have a lovely day dudes!!

Virgil didn't want to wake up. Or, more precisely, he didn't want to  _be_ awake, but he'd already woken up and it didn't look like he was going to sleep for much longer, as his room was currently dripping with greyish dawn light that he knew from experience would lighten until he could see fully through the shadows and thoughts. They didn't want him going back to sleep or leaving the room, away from most of their control, but he'd had far too much practice with them and managed to gather enough will to stand up next to his bed, albeit still slumped with exhaustion, in only twenty minutes. By the time he'd closed the door on the wisps of self-doubt and disencouragement trying to follow him out, the light was significantly brighter, and less bruise-tinted. He sighed, tiredly shaking his head a bit as if to rid himself of the internal cobwebs that resulted from sleeping in his room all night, and wandered off to find the kitchen.

He distantly noticed that he was hungry, and opened the fridge, freezer, and pantry simultaneously to find something to eat. His eyes fell on a carton of blueberry ice cream that he'd already half-finished, and he shrugged, closing the fridge and pantry and taking out the carton. He closed the freezer and picked up a spoon, retreating to the couch to eat in cold comfort.

After a particularly stubborn spoonful, Virgil looked down at the carton and was taken aback by the fact that there was a strange, ice-cream-covered rod in the carton. Actually, there were multiple. He pulled one out on his spoon, scraped off the ice cream, and found that under the purple layer was a carrot. He looked at the carrot for a few minutes in bewilderment and inspected the carton again to make sure it was his. He confirmed that yes, it was the blueberry ice cream, half-... well, three-quarters-empty, now, and had a weirdly-shaped sticky note attached that he hadn't seen. He squinted at the blurry handwriting, wishing he'd put his contacts in but too tired to go back to his room, find them, put them in, get out, and come back down. He considered the light switch across the room, weighing the mystery of the sticky note against the struggles of walking 3 feet and back. Finally, he sighed and gave in.

After being momentarily blinded and clapping his hand over his eyes for a minute, he managed to peek at the note, which he now saw was flower-shaped.

_Hey kiddo,_

_You're the only one who eats this flavor, and I know for a FACT that you haven't eaten an actual vegetable in two weeks. If you don't take care of yourself better, I'm going to force-feed you broccoli._

He stopped reading for a second to make a face. So maybe he  _was_ 27, but that didn't mean he liked broccoli. It had a weird texture, dude!

_And I know you don't like broccoli, but hopefully you're okay with carrots, Virge!! :D Love, Patton_

He reread the short note, smiled a little, and picked out the rest of the carrots. Then he finished off the ice cream carton and dozed off, free of nightmares, only to wake up a few hours later around lunchtime with Patton's cat onesie laid over him in an effort to act as a blanket, with another flower note telling him that he'd been lying  _on top of_ the actual blanket, so Patton had had to make do. He stuck the notes into his pocket, feeling more content upon waking up than he had in the last month, and headed into the kitchen again, where he could hear someone moving around. He'd have to thank Patton later, maybe with a note of his own. Having friends was nice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> as always if u leave a comment i will kill your enemies for you and love you forever. :D also vote for a ship to appear in the next oneshot pls!! i can't decide, they're all great :0


	4. jealousy, turning saints into the sea

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> summary: dance, dance//we're falling apart to halftime  
> alternately: he's coming out of his cage and he's been doing just (not) fine

Virgil had to reorganize the cabinets, he'd been thinking about how they always kept the plates and cups dangerously close to the edges and finally had to do something about it. Although he winced every time a piece of pottery or glass scraped on another handle, he dealt with it for the sake of keeping them all safe--after all, if a cup was too close to the edge when the cabinet opened, and it fell, and broke, and might bring down others too, and then when someone tried to clean it up they might get cut and bleed to death or get an infection or blame him for not looking out for their safety--so he reorganized the dishes again by height and color and above all, kept them away from the front of the shelves. Just after he put down a particularly dangerous-looking glass, he was surprised by the realization that music was playing. ... Was that Scarecrow?

He turned around as the vocals started and at once realized that Logan had put the song on, and it was actually Summertime.

Virgil tilted his head to the side at Logan questioningly. Logan glanced around, hesitating, then held out his hands in front of him, palms up. Anxiety recognized the gesture and briefly debated with himself before deciding warily to show some trust, and put his hands on top of Logic's.

 _Really? Why?_ , his face asked his partner, stepping right, left, back, forward, right...

Logan's eyebrows and the corner of his mouth rose, and he gave a tiny shrug. _Why not?_ seemed to be the general message.

Virgil quirked his mouth and smiled slowly at Logan. _Hm... alright._

Right, left, back, forward, twirl, two, three four, and back, two, three, four...

* * *

 

Prince Roman was absolutely exhausted. He'd not only had to check up on his fantasy worlds, make sure everything was running smoothly and he hadn't forgotten about a tree that was supposed to be growing or something, but he'd also gotten tired of the upkeep and cleared an old world, reimagining it as a cave system with traps around every corner with a chimera living in the deepest, darkest chamber of the system. He'd expected it to be nothing more than a lively, interesting afternoon of duels, heroics, and one less complex world to keep solidly in his room's imagination. However, he'd still been a _little_ too spaced-out after the repetitive checking and rechecking that every world had every tree and building and character still in good condition, and ended up getting injured. Oh, he'd made sure to keep an eye on the chimera's snake tail, of course, but the goat had kicked his legs out from under him and when he was disoriented, the lion had ripped up his _clothes_.

It took him a minute or two to remember how to dissolve the chimera character and once he'd finished, he figured... why not cancel the whole cave system world. One less thing to worry about, that's one less thing to worry about, huh?

Roman groaned, back in the official mindscape, as he waved a hand to delete the door he'd just come out of and felt his shoulder twinge painfully. He grabbed a cold compress out of the mini-fridge full of them in his room, and some bandages for his shoulder, and patched himself up. After he stretched and made sure he was, if not okay then, then going to be okay, he decided he deserved some hot chocolate and made his way to the kitchen, not admitting to himself that his shins would be bruised to heck and back by the next day.

As he got closer, his ears picked up the sound of music and stopped before entering the kitchen, not wanting to intrude on anyone. He looked inside and saw two sides in the kitchen, dancing. After another few minutes, he realized it was Virgil and Logan, stepping apart and together, back and forth, a spin there, a turn here. He stood and watched for a while, feeling something swelling inside him. Roman touched his chest, wondering if he'd gotten hit by the chimera there without noticing, but then realized the ache was something else. Maybe it was all in his head, but the sinking feeling in his stomach disagreed with that idea. The two had seemingly been dancing for ages, as they slowed down from apparent tiredness and leaned into each other for support. He turned away, feeling like if he kept looking his own chest would turn poisonous and kill him, or perhaps it already was.

He remembered hearing about their first kiss, and how " _it was only a kiss_ ", but knowing otherwise from the way from then on, their hands always found each other, silently tangling fingers, while his own hand remained empty but for his sword. How did it end up like this?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> please comment with feedback and anything you'd like to see in the future!! also, what's your favorite flavor of ice cream?


	5. request 2: adhd patton

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> summary: adhd is so fun am i right? i said am i right? am i righ
> 
> requested by studiesbycandy on tumblr, hope you enjoy!!  
> disclaimer im not diagnosed with adhd as of now so this may not be a 100% accurate portrayal of adhd, please let me know if anything i wrote is mispresented or needs to be fixed  
> tw burns, vague mention of self harm thoughts?

Patton's problems started, of course, when he ran out of meds.

He'd fallen asleep too quickly the previous night to notice that he'd had to turn the orange bottle practically upside down to shake out his pills, and when he first noticed in the morning he shrugged it off. It was Friday, and he remembered that his doctor was at a conference a state away and the pharmacy where he got refills would be closed all weekend. It was no biggie, he'd be able to survive one weekend off of them, obviously.

Patton kept telling himself this on the bus ride to school, as he walked to his first period, as he paced back and forth in front of the door until the bell rang, as he tapped his foot all period and turned in his homework, as he spaced out in his seat and didn't realize the bell rang to go to second period.

God, he hated being bored. When was the bell going to ring? He looked up at the clock, but noticed that the classroom was empty. He wasted another minute looking around the room and at the teacher, who shrugged at him all "Your life, kid", and then shoved his stuff into his bag and ran out the door, tossing a "Thank you!" behind him.

He flung himself into his seat a second after the late bell rang, and his teacher gave him a harsh look. "Mr Sanders, you need to work on your tardiness."

"Yes, ma'am," Patton promised, and commenced doodling on his notebook paper. After finishing a particularly good drawing of a succulent, he realized he'd forgotten what he'd agreed to and that the teacher was lecturing them about the effects of humanity on the ecosystem. Darn, he wished he'd been paying attention enough to actually take notes, but he couldn't for the life of him remember the beginning of the interesting-sounding lesson. He tried to catch up, but as he neared the middle of each bullet point, he heard that he missed the beginning of the next and ended up with incomplete, haphazard notes that he couldn't make hide nor hair out of.

Thankfully, he was fully present when the bell to go to break rang, and he couldn't wait to get moving. Again packing his stuff at the speed of light, Patton grinned apologetically at the teacher and ran out the door.

He decided to take a walk while he waited for his health class to start, passing the library and cafeteria and making the rounds through the history wing. Around the time he passed the art rooms, he got bored of walking and started a half-skip that turned into a jog. He let the running shake the thoughts out of his head, ready for some gosh-darn peace and quiet. When he slowed down to turn the corner around the gym, the bell rang, and he remembered that his Health class was completely across campus.

He wasn't too distracted to notice the looks on his classmates' faces when he walked in late again, but he was glad to see a small ladybug journeying across his desk by the window when he sat down. He laid his head down on his arms, watching the little red bug (who he'd nicknamed Johnny) on his quest to get to the other end of his desk. He told himself he was also paying attention to the teacher's discussion of yoga and its affect on the brain, but ended up being too preoccupied with Johnny to notice a certain redhead trying to get him to notice the note by his shoulder. At the end of the lesson, he lost track of Johnny and shrugged, grabbing his bag and heading to PE, unknowingly leaving his old friend Roman gaping after him with an expression of comically exaggerated offense and a touch of real hurt at being seemingly snubbed.

PE wasn't exactly noteworthy, although a bit of scratchy graffiti behind the bleachers caught his eye and he got lost in finding lost tidbits under the benches, earning himself a stern talk from the coach. He nodded, eyes downcast, muttering "yeah" and "of course" when she told him not to- well, Patton forgot what exactly she said, but it was probably about not getting distracted anymore.

Thank god, he had lunch up next. He got dressed, checked the time, and went to stand in line at the cafeteria. Once he exited, he found himself leaning against a tree near the - where again? Oh, gym - and holding a cup of coffee. He wasn't sure what he'd gotten for lunch, whether he'd eaten it or given it to someone else or anything. Oh well, Patton figured, taking a sip of his coffee. At least he'd remembered, apparently, to put the right amount of sugar and milk in his coffee.

After another long drink, he sat down and checked to make sure he'd finished his math homework, because it was due the next period. He'd accidentally skipped over the second-to-last problem, it seemed, and managed to get started on that with only a few breaks to go and check to make sure he was drawing the flagpole accurately to the flagpole a few buildings away, or to throw away his coffee cup, or to look up whether coffee cups were biodegradable on his phone. Patton was feeling pretty proud of himself by the time he packed his homework back up and put in his earbuds, listening to some calming music and closing his eyes to better enjoy it.  
After a few bumps into buildings, bushes, and someone's book (which he apologized for, until he realized the person wasn't even there), the bell rang and he opened his eyes seriously again to navigate to his math class.

Math was miserable, and he raised his hand to be excused to use the bathroom the second he felt he could do so without getting a snide "Well, you should have gone during lunch!" response. He gratefully jumped up as soon as he got permission and relished in the chance to move around.

Patton started towards the bathrooms, but noticed a squirrel running up a tree and wondered what had interested it, and then really liked the way the tree was shaped, so he stopped to sketch it out quickly, but couldn't figure out what kind of tree it was so he made a mental note to look up tree species later. He kept drawing, but then got distracted by a small bee flying by and he went to follow it because bees were friends and ought to be respected and saved, and remembered that his family was out of honey so he had to buy more on the way home later. By the time the bee lost itself in a hedge, he realized it was getting late and people would be wondering why he'd been gone so long, so he reluctantly went back to class.

After a few interminable minutes, he realized he needed to find an eraser so started to rummage in his bag and found a stim cube that had gotten lost in there. He pulled it out triumphantly and started turning the wheel side quietly, checking his notes against his deskmate's.

The rest of math passed in a blur of pencil dust and button clicking, and he hurried off to his cooking class, bumping into six or seven people on the way - including a tall boy whose glasses nearly fell off as he whipped around to watch his blue-clad friend hurry off, head down.

Patton's mind was losing the caffeine focus from lunch, but retaining the math-induced fuzziness, which only cleared momentarily after an ill-advised encounter with the stove burner, a pan, and a memory that didn't include the fact that the heat was on. He ended up having to sit the lesson out after he forgot about the boiling water while stirring dough and dropping a plate. Gingerly prodding the burn on his finger, he was absolutely overwhelmed with boredom at having nothing to do and ended up taking another well-intentioned "bathroom break" that somehow lasted until ten minutes before the end of class.

Those last ten minutes, to Patton, felt like ten days, and he was seriously debating getting another burn to be able to excuse himself to the nurse's office when the bell finally, FINALLY rang and he was allowed out after a quick, but serious talk with the teacher about being more careful in the future.

He stood in line to board the bus, not quite remembering when he'd gotten to the bus stop but not worried, as it had become pretty much the norm. He checked the time - or not, as he realized his phone hadn't been on since lunchtime. He shook his head at himself, part amused and part ashamed, and boarded the bus while he waited for it to power back on.

Once he found a seat, he tapped his fingers on his bouncing knee and first pulled up some music to listen to, and then checked his messages.

**Logan (2)**

_Patton, I couldn't help but notice you seemed extremely, well, out of it today._

_Is there anything wrong that I might help with?_

**Virgil (4)**

_pat?_

_you there?_

_i heard form the others you were acting a little different today.,,_

_are you okay?_

**Roman (7)**

_yo dude_

_you totally spaced on me during health_

_what's up with that???_

_ooh!! did you know ladybugs are bigger than gentlebugs?_ _there's no such thing as gentlebugs but there should be_

_anyways i was GONNA tell you that i'm totally gonna dye my hair this weekend but since you were the walking dead during class today i didn't get to talk about what AWESOME color i should do next_

_i was thinking like a full rainbow or something just to advertise "SINGLE GAY AVAILABLE HERE HELLO HI SOMEONE VOLUNTEER TO BE COURTED BY THE ONE AND ONLY ME" lmao but what do you think dude?_

_i mean if you're tired and don't wanna talk to people that's understandable don't worry you punderful person_

Patton sucked air between his teeth and went back to reread everyone's messages to figure out how to respond. It took a few minutes of drafting, deleting, going back to remember what they said, and rewriting to make sure he didn't sound mean or anything.

**Logan, Virgil, Roman**

_P: Hey guys!! I'm sorry about being all weird today, I appreciate your all texting me and concern <3 I'm okay, don't worry, just ran out of my ADHD meds and kept forgetting I exist and stuff. No worries!! I'm sorry I didn't say anything to you guys, and I hope you weren't too worried!!_

_L: (...)_

_R: (...)_

_V: (...)_

_R: it's awesome that you're okay, my good dude!!_

_R: we were worried of course because we're your friends but it's great to know nothing major's wrong :O_

_L: Thank you for the explanation, Patton, I'm glad you're okay_

_L: (...)_

_L: I agree with Roman, we worry because we care, and want you to take care of yourself._

**Logan (1)**

_May I come over after school to get your refills? I know you wouldn't want to inconvenience the doctors yourself but you should get your medicine soon to avoid more confusion._

**Logan, Virgil, Roman (3)**

_V: ... i was rlly worried man, i didn't see you all day. thaks for. not being dead and stuff_

_V: like i know you probably wouldn't be actually dead and i just saw you yesterday, but yknow. my brain is like that sorry_

_R: i mean if it's your brain, virge, do you need to apologize?? it's not your fault either, ghost of crises future._

_P: I'm so sorry for making you worry, Virgil!! It definitely wasn't my intention <3 And I agree with Roman, it's not your fault for worrying!! I should've been more aware of my meds levels, tbh :0_

Patton locked his phone and smiled at the dark screen, appreciation for his friends providing an anchor for his flickering attention.

He only realized he'd passed his stop when seven other people got off at the next stop and he looked out the window, worrying a little. He grabbed his bag and phone and got off the bus before he could stall longer and end up even further away from home.

As he was walking home, a dark blue, slightly scratched-up car pulled up next to him and the window rolled down, revealing Logan inside.

"Well, Patton?"

He got in.

"Sorry about today, Logan, I know I totally ghosted everyone-"

"Don't worry about it, Patton, we all understand. Also, I noticed you weren't as close to your house as you normally are at this time, and decided I ought to come and pick you up, as it is getting slightly dark." Logan broke his gaze with the street to look over at Patton and grin at him. He felt his heart fill with lightness from how his friend cared about his safety.

"Aww!! You're the best, wow!! Thank you so much, Lo," Patton gushed.

"Well, that's highly unlikely," Logan sniffed, turning back to the road but not quite concealing the fond look in his eyes. "I simply care for my friends, especially when they forget to do so themselves."

Patton suddenly remembered that Logan had texted him about getting his refills for him. "Hey, you totally don't have to do that for me, y'know. The refills, I mean, I'll be fine for the weekend, no worries!!"

Logan looked at him again, rolling his eyes this time. "Come on. You need to take care of yourself, and that includes regulating your dopamine levels. Coffee will definitely not tide you over all weekend, I know you. I'll get your refills, you can't convince me not to."

Patton sighed, torn between not wanting to bother his friend with it and being happy that he'd met such a great group of people in high school.

The car stopped in front of Patton's house.

"Can you run inside and grab your prescription, et cetera?" Logan asked, getting out himself. Patton quickly followed suit, nodding.

"Sure!!" He very carefully watched the floor to avoid the risk of getting lost in the nostalgia and photo albums that were stacked on every available surface in his room, and instead found his empty pill bottle with the prescription information on the label and brought it back to the front, where Logan was leafing through some old photo albums.

"Baby pictures?"

"Your family harbors an odd affiliation with photography, I noticed." Logan gestured at the shelf full of pictures and memory books.

"Yeah, just a little bit," Patton laughed, and passed the pill bottle to Logan. "The info and stuff should be on the label? I wanna thank you again for doing this, man, you know you totally don't need to and I don't want you to go to any unnecessary trouble-"

"Patton, stop feeling guilty about letting people care about you," Logan interrupted. "We've already clarified that I am okay with this and in fact offered to do it in the first place."

"I mean, I'll do my best, Lo." He spontaneously threw his arms around his friend's shoulders, hugging him tightly. "You're the absolute best, you know? I appreciate you so dang much, and I don't think I say it enough."

"You say it every day, you do realize that?" Logan reminded him, gently pulling free.

"Still!!" Patton beamed at him.

"Okay, then," Logan sighed. "I'll be back in half an hour or so."

"Okay!! Love you, see you soon, thank you thank you thank you!!" Patton enthused as he waved goodbye. Logan raised his hand in a short wave of his own, accompanied by a small smile.

Alone in his house, with no one else in his family arriving home for another hour, he paced the house and wondered what to do. "Oh! I know!" he said aloud to himself. "Everyone loves cookies!!" And he had missed out on most of cooking class today, so he had to make up for the practice.

He put on music and hummed along as he gathered the ingredients and checked the recipe book several times over, cracking the eggs, stirring the dough, preheating the oven... After ten minutes, he had the dough all ready and shaped into cookie-ish forms on the baking sheet, and he set them to bake for a while. While he waited, he alternately turned the wheels on his stim cube, checked that all his plants were growing well, and choreographed a dance to the songs playing. After a while, he realized the cookies might need decorating, or if not need, then he _wanted_ to decorate them anyways. He found frosting recipes and started mixing those too in various colors. By the time he finished the purple frosting, he heard Logan coming back.

Oh! The cookies weren't ready yet, he should have realized that before he started. He started apologizing to Logan before he even saw him come through the hallway, and when he did, Logan held up a hand in a  _pause_ motion.

"It's fine, Patton, whatever you're apologizing about. Here, I'll get you a glass of water for your meds- do I smell cookies?"

Patton gulped guiltily. "M...ayybe? I might have been wanting to make you cookies as a proper thank-you for being such an amazing friend and just generally being so amazing, but forgot how long it would take to bake them?"

"That's a... sweet gesture, Patton, but I really don't mind. There's no need to feel bad, I promise. Here, have some water." Logan passed the cool glass to Patton, who took his pills and then drank the rest of the water.

"You're the best, Logan, really and truly."

"Well, I learned  _from_ the best."

Had Patton mentioned in the past few minutes how much he loved his friends?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> please comment with your favorite part, anything i should change to be more realistic, and/or the song(s) stuck in your head right now

**Author's Note:**

> leave a comment with ideas or feedback!!! i love you guys so much!!


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